I have tried mightily to keep this blog clean of all cursing, but I seem to be fighting a losing battle. (I still draw the line at the F word, however, unless it is absolutely necessary and relevant.)
But now we have the BadAss Teachers, and they do a valiant job of standing up for their profession and speaking up with courage and integrity.
And here is a great resource intended to help us spot lies, hoaxes, scams, frauds, and…Bullshit.
It is a website that describes a course with readings, and the website is callingbullshit.org
Now, back when I was writing “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools,” my purpose was to give parents and educators the facts and ammunition to fight back against the pernicious attacks on our public schools. I suppose if I had used the term “bullshit” in the subtitle, it would have sold even better than it did (not complaining, it was a national best seller).
Meanwhile do go to the website and learn from its reading list and clear thinking about how to call bullshit.
It is coming at us so thick and fast that we need to be ready.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Correction: in 4th paragraph it should be .org not .com.
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All the B.S. data and manipulations by “reformers” keep Jersey Jazzman busy debunking their voodoo math fake assumptions and false conclusions. Any system that promotes profit or punishment will bring out the grifters, frauds and manipulated statistics.
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“Astrology Reformed”
It used to be
Astrology
Was used to trick the folks
But now it seems
Reformer schemes
Are utilized the most
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callingbullshit.org not .com
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We are having an epidemic of DS (Diversionary Scapegoating) designed to shift our attention from our real problems to blown out of proportion or wholly invented imaginary problems.
Rational people expend energy on problems in proportion to their real threat. But scaremongers warp our perceived threat matrix all out of proportion to the realities, needless to say, for ends of their own. A person in the U.S. today is far more likely to be killed by a gun-toting toddler or mentally ill person than a foreign terrorist — and yet our loony leaders are doing all they can to make it easier for toddlers and mentally ill to get guns.
That is simply not rational …
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In some cases, Delusionary Scapegoating might be a more apt term because it’s not clear that it is done on purpose.
Some people may actually believe that Swedish meatballs are a threat and have them banned from grocery stores.
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Diane —
If you haven’t seen it already, the essay below is titled “A kind Word for Bullshit,” and was published by my colleagues, John Schaeffer and Phil Eubanks. Although it’s mostly about academic writing (a well-known source of BS in some English Departments), it could also apply to political discourse, esp. in the age of Trump. Here is the citation and URL below:
Cheers,
JVK
“A Kind Word for Bullshit: The Problem of Academic Writing.”
Philip Eubanks and John D. Schaeffer
College Composition and Communication
Vol. 59, No. 3 (Feb., 2008), pp. 372-388.
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20457010
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Diane,
You may want to fix your link, it is callingbullshit.org, not callingbullshit.com.
Take care, Bill Leacock
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Thanks, Bill.
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If you have an adblocker you cannot get in. I have the same problem as bill. Interesting that getting in seems to require me to look at ads. In any case i certainly think that the BS problem is not new, just more pervasive and in some cases refined by algorithms. I notice, for example, that having a “passion” for just about anything seems to justify a lot of BS.
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Fortunately the embedded link is correct.
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Speaking of BS, so much for “DeVos opposed this” :
“White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday denied reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos clashed over an upcoming executive order expected to weaken protections for transgender students.
“There’s no daylight between anybody, between the President, between any of the secretaries,” Spicer told reporters at his daily press briefing.”
DeVos is a political operative and has been for 30 years. She must have believed it was somehow beneficial for her to “oppose” Sessions on this.
It’s a game to these people. “Oppose” means “I found it politically beneficial to have someone say I was opposed to this”.
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Exactly what I thought too.
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A great defender of LGBT rights whose family founded and funded Family Research Council and Focus on the Family
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Hello Diane. I signed up to follow your Facebook page and blog after seeing you in Charlie Rose. I’m finding the volume of your updates between the two sources overwhelming–5 emails so far today! If you’ll continue to send “one-offs” rather than combining messages, I will have to unsubscribe soon.
Best, Karen Tyson
>
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Karen,
I do what I do.
Read them at the end of the day.
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Diane, the website is callingbullshit.org, not callingbullshit.com which appears to be related to porn.
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Fixed it
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Found the resources. It makes me sad that these references and tutorials have to use the BS phrase to get attention.
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Your last link should be callingbullshit.org — the one you have listed is a little embarrassing if you click it…
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Love it. You are the best!
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cross posted at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/How-to-Recognize-Lies-Hoa-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Diane-Ravitch_Fraud_Lies_Lies-Media-170223-971.html#comment646912
with this link to how Keith overman says the media shoulder with Tump lies.
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I grew up on a dairy farm. I can tell you about bovine feces of all types. I would like to volunteer to give my expert opinion on all things relating to excrement, not just on the basis of my childhood on a dairy, but also because I did graduate level work running cameras through city sewers. I will put my resume up against anybody’s.
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This course seems like yet another effort to teach “critical thinking skills” directly. It can’t hurt, but I’m not convinced that this is actually the best way to make a discerning citizen.
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My favorite part of the homepage is in the Disclaimer section:
Objects on this site may be closer than they appear. Additional taxes may apply in some jurisdictions. Individual results may vary. Not to be used with alcoholic beverages. I bet you think this website is about you, don’t you? Don’t you?
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